EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf on Friday held a virtual press conference with Twin Cities media members to explain the decision after a methodical evaluation to part ways with General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Jan. 30.

Wilf fielded questions for more than 17 minutes, covering topics that ranged from why and why now to what is next for the team in the lead up to the 2026 NFL Draft and beyond that cornerstone event scheduled for April 23-25.

About an hour-and-a-half earlier, Mark Wilf and Owner/Chairman Zygi Wilf released the following statement announcing the team's decision:

"Following our annual end-of-season organizational meetings over the last several weeks and after careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the team to move forward with new leadership of our football operations. These decisions are never easy. We are grateful for Kwesi's contributions and commitment to the organization over the past four years and wish him and his family the best in the future.

Effective immediately, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski will lead our operations through the 2026 NFL Draft. Rob brings tremendous credibility and experience, understands our roster and has the ability to build consensus and rely on the expertise of our personnel and coaches. After the draft, we intend to conduct a thorough search to identify our next general manager. Building a team that can contend for championships drives us every day, and we look forward to bringing our fans the success they so deserve."

Mark Wilf explained to media members the evaluation timeline is part of the ownership group's commitment to avoiding "knee-jerk" reactions.

"We want to … be pragmatic, thoughtful, methodical in making these decisions; and as we do each year, we held our end-of-the-season organizational meetings over a couple of weeks and then spent this past week as an ownership group reviewing, discussing and [deciding] how best to move forward," he said. "This is a critical offseason. Ultimately, we felt the change was necessary in football operations and did not feel comfortable going forward into this offseason with the current leadership. It's not about any one decision or move. We looked at the situation cumulatively. We just didn't feel confident going through the entire heart of the offseason, an additional draft and free agency with this structure."

Brzezinski will be the "point person on all the football operations" through the draft, and Wilf said the Vikings plan to have the personnel department lead decisions toward roster building with "significant input" from Minnesota's coaches.

"The way we view this role, it's about leadership and leading an excellent team of personnel, coaches, scouts, all the rest. And he's going to lead. He's going to build a collaborative team, work with the team we have, and that's where the expertise comes in here," Wilf said of Brzezinski. "He knows where he's strong at, and he's going to know with his experience where he can lean on, and there are a lot of people to lean on in this building. Like I said, we have tremendous confidence, and I'm very confident in Rob as point person with [Head Coach Kevin] O'Connell and our entire football staff that will be able to navigate this well."

Brzezinski, whose Vikings tenure began in 1999, just completed his 33^rd season in the NFL and 27^th with the Vikings. He is known across the league for his salary cap expertise and role in contract negotiations.

"Rob brings tremendous credibility and experience, understands our roster and has an innate ability to build a consensus with coaches and personnel in terms of the long term," Wilf said. "Certainly, we will have conversations and begin laying the groundwork for a process now, but from a practical perspective of where we are on the football cycle, and in order to give ourselves the best outcome, we expect to conduct a thorough search to identify our next general manager after the draft."

The decision to part with Adofo-Mensah was announced four years and four days after Adofo-Mensah was hired as a first-time GM and less than three months from the 2026 NFL Draft.

He had first entered the NFL with San Francisco in 2013 after working as a commodities trader on Wall Street. Adofo-Mensah emerged from the nontraditional background as Manager of Football Research & Development (2013-16) and then as Director (2017-19) before becoming Browns Vice President of Football Operations (2020-21).

Wilf was asked about Adofo-Mensah's atypical background.

"Kwesi is a forward-thinker, great respect for him as a person and his family, and it's a difficult day here. But going forward, it was really about a fit situation and the best path going forward. So that's the way we came about it," Wilf said. "We have strong people in the organization — all of them football-oriented, many data-oriented, analytics-oriented. We have a lot of tremendous talent in this building, and I'm confident, optimistic, as my brother, our ownership, we're all very confident moving forward and optimistic that we have a nucleus here we can build off of with the team we have, the players we have and to move us forward in a positive direction. This was the best way to do it."

Among Adofo-Mensah's first duties was the search that resulted in the selection of O'Connell, and the team has gone 43-25 in four regular seasons, winning the NFC North in 2022 with a 13-4 mark and finishing 14-3 in 2024 to make the playoffs as a Wild Card team.

Minnesota's postseason experiences, however, ended sooner than desired after each of those thrilling seasons, and the other two were accompanied by multiple challenges.

Adofo-Mensah's tenure was marked by numerous additions through free agency, bringing in multiple veterans who made positive impacts, as well as considerable aggressiveness in the 2024 NFL Draft, which included trading up a spot to select QB J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 overall and OLB Dallas Turner at No. 17.

Although many will focus on the unique QB situation the Vikings tried to navigate during the 2025 offseason, which resulted in 2024 starter Sam Darnold (Seattle) and veteran backup Daniel Jones (Indianapolis) leaving during free agency ahead of McCarthy's first season as a starter, Wilf emphasized that ownership had conducted a "deep-dive look" at the past few years.

With the departures of Darnold and Jones, Minnesota turned its focus to building around McCarthy by overhauling the interior of the offensive line with the signings of center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries and by drafting left guard Donovan Jackson with its first-round pick.

The team also directed non-QB dollars toward additions on defense that included interior linemen Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave.

In addition to the injury-spun carousel at quarterback with McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer starting multiple games, the offseason plan was impacted greatly by health on the offensive line, which used 26 different combinations of five players.

Previous efforts in free agency with key additions like Jordan Hicks and Harrison Phillips in the 2022 offseason and then trading to acquire tight end T.J. Hockenson during the season as the Vikings became "buyers" before the trade deadline.

In 2023, Adofo-Mensah responded to Kirk Cousins' season-ending Achilles injury by adding QB Joshua Dobbs just before the trade deadline, and in 2024, the Vikings acquired Cam Robinson to fill the large void created when Christian Darrisaw was lost for the season in Week 8. Robinson helped Minnesota win nine consecutive games from Week 9-17.

While the additions in free agency yielded credit, Minnesota's results in drafts drew criticisms, with only two players from 10 selected in 2022 remaining with the team through the 2025 season.

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